Facing flak from opposition parties and separatists, Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday made a U-turn on the controversial plans for composite townships in the valley for displaced Kashmiri Pandits, saying they are "part and parcel of the Kashmiri fabric of life" and would be settled at their native places and "not as an isolated community".
Terrorists carried out three attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, leaving one CRPF personnel dead and four persons, including two workers from Bihar and a Kashmiri Pandit, injured, officials said.
As the dust settles down on the ruins of their homes in the worst-affected areas of Uri and Tangdhar, the despondent Pandits here are realising that this time they have truly lost everything, with little hope for future.
The township for the Kashmiri Pandit migrants at Jagti on the outskirts of Jammu was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh when he handed over allotment papers to a group of 12 selected families.
An influential American Senator on Tuesday asked United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to take up the plight of Kashmiri Pandits and their future with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to US in November. "I urge you to discuss the future of the Pandits with the Indian government," Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio said in a letter to Secretary Clinton.
For the first time in its history, Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will not have a representative from the Kashmiri Pandit community.
Thousands of Kashmiri Pandits kept their annual date with the Khir Bhawani festival at north Kashmir's Tullamulla temple, about 30 kms from summer capital Srinagar, on Monday.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said in the Rajya Sabha that 3,000 state government jobs were created for Kashmiri migrants under the Prime Minister's Development Package-2015 (PMDP-2015) with an outlay of Rs 1,080 crore.
'I come from a conservative family.' 'They had sent me to Bengaluru to study and wanted me to focus on my career.' 'I went for the Miss India auditions because it was something I wanted to do for myself.' 'My family was there and saw me perform live.' 'After I got through the finals, they supported me.' 'Now they want me to be the game-changer -- to be the first-ever Kashmiri Pandit to carve a niche in the fashion world.'
In a significant move, separatists have decided to hold talks with Kashmiri Pandit migrants to discuss their return to the Valley.
The government of India has a moral responsibility for working towards a consensus for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland, says B Raman
Devotees thronged the streets with chants, bhajans, and devotional fervour, marking the occasion with spiritual enthusiasm and reconnecting with their cultural roots.
In a flip-flop, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Thursday told the assembly that his government has no plans to set up separate clusters for settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley.
Sinha made the remark amid the ongoing protest by migrant Kashmiri Pandit employees and Jammu-based reserved category employees who left the Valley for Jammu in May following the targeted killings of their two colleagues -- Rahul Bhat and Rajni Bhalla. The protesting employees have been seeking relocation outside Kashmir.
An international body of Kashmiri Pandits has sought the help of US Government and its lawmakers in the rehabilitation of the community by creation of a separate homeland for them in Jammu and Kashmir.
The separatist amalgam appealed to the international community to intervene in putting an end to the daily violence and tragic loss of life in Kashmir by "pushing for the resolution of the lingering Kashmir conflict, which is the root cause of all this suffering".
The killing of a Rajput driver by a terrorist has generated a sense of fear and uncertainty among members of the tiny community in Kakran village in Kulgam district who have stayed on in Kashmir Valley despite decades of militancy but are now considering leaving for a safer place.
Congress put up five demands at the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with leaders of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday including early statehood, conducting polls to restore democracy and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.
Only one displaced Kashmiri Pandit family has returned to the Valley so far, the government told Parliament on Tuesday.
Patil admitted that some Pandits were still suffering, but assured the Lok Sabha that attempts were being made to help them live more a secured and peaceful life.
Amidst Covid scare, hundreds of pilgrims paid obeisance at the famous Ragnya Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district on Friday for the annual Kheer Bhawani mela, praying for peace in the union territory and for the pandemic to end.
After spending 20 years in squalid camps in Jammu, the Kashmiri Pandits, who fled their native Kashmir valley to escape ethnic cleansing, will finally move into a new township. But they are not home yet. Archana Masih reports from Jammu on the torment of the Pandits in exile, which remains one of contemporary India's worst tragedies.
Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora, a body representing the community across the world, said the decision cements territorial, political and cultural unity of the Indian Union.
Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmiri pandits on Wednesday said his purpose to resolve the Kashmir issue will be meaningless if talks with separatists were not followed up by similar parleys with them.
Many of the young Kashmiri Pandits argue that it is quite difficult to go back to the Valley, but for different reasons from their parents': there aren't enough opportunities there. Priyanka finds out what the community thinks in the aftermath of the interlocutors reports on the troubled state
Kashmiri Pandit employees on Monday threatened to appeal to international human rights organisations for asylum if the central government failed to relocate them from the Valley in the wake of attacks on minorities.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday rebutted the Opposition's charge that the Bharatiya Janata Party too shared the responsibility for the failure to check the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 as it was supporting the then V P Singh-led government at the Centre.
Citing media reports, KPSS chief Sanjay K Tickoo claimed that the Hindus living in Kashmir wanted to leave the Valley but the government was not allowing them to do so.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday pledged to work for the welfare of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, refugees from West Pakistan and kin of those killed in terrorist violence, saying the days of their neglect are over.
The resolution, moved by Bharatiya Janata Party's Nishikant Dubey, as well as an amendment to include people who have migrated from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir for rehabilitation, was adopted by a voice vote.
Pandits are missing Kashmir more than ever, and KashmirOneStop.com is their window to Kashmir.
Bullet-proof vehicles, wall-through radars and drones are some of the new gadgets inducted by the Central Reserve Police Force into its counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir, leading to precision-based actions against terrorists.
Ancient Hindu idols and 'Shivlings' were discovered during excavation work for the renovation of a spring in Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir. The site is significant for Kashmiri Pandits and is associated with the Karkoota dynasty.
Reviving the memories of the glorious traditions of communal harmony in Jammu and Kashmir, Muslim neighbours in this town helped perform the last rites of a Kashmiri Pandit who died last evening.
Threats were often communicated to Pandit homes through notes tied to stones chucked through a window, or a notice pasted on a wall. Those sometimes came from neighbours eyeing that Pandit family's property. Those threats often worked in the atmosphere of terror during that awful season of vacuous exercise of State authority, writes David Devadas, longtime Kashmir watcher and author of two books on the Valley.
'The wave of terrorism is over in Kashmir. Local people do not support it.'
Among the 12 media personnel awarded are the PTI Srinagar Bureau Chief, Inayat Jehangir and PTI video journalist, Jammu Somil Abrol. Other awardees in this category include Avtar Krishan Bhat, Vivek Suri, Sunil Ji Bhat, Dinesh Manhotra, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Razia Noor, Ishfaq Gowhar Zargar, Syed Khalid Hussain, Sarosh Kafeel, and Neeta Sharma.
'Tourism will get hit. Thousands of lives will suffer. Businesses will shut down.'
The deceased were identified as Abdul Majeed Ganaie, Mehraj-ud-din Dar, Anees Ahmad Mir and Hameed-ul-lah Ganaie.
The usual rush of devotees was missing this year, presumably due to the Pahalgam terror attack and the military action between India and Pakistan following it.
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